{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Sociology","slug":"new-books-in-sociology-671620","podcast_index_feed_id":671620,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LIT3382719913","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/f7161e82-f346-11e8-a8a3-a3d2f039e6d2/image/b6e67e348fe6c83f677a9dc9bd7ac1fe.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":1000,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-sociology-671620"},"episode":{"title":"Zeina Al-Azmeh, \"Syrian Intellectuals in Exile: The Dilemmas of Revolution and the Cost of Leaving\" (Cambridge UP, 2026)","slug":"zeina-al-azmeh-syrian-intellectuals-in-exile-the-dilemmas-of-revolution-and-the-cost-of-leaving-cambridge-up-2026","published_at":"2026-05-09T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-sociology-671620/zeina-al-azmeh-syrian-intellectuals-in-exile-the-dilemmas-of-revolution-and-the-cost-of-leaving-cambridge-up-2026","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-sociology-671620","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK3402104221.mp3?updated=1778137787","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK3402104221.mp3?updated=1778137787","summary":"Zeina Al-Azmeh’s Syrian Intellectuals in Exile: The Dilemmas of Revolution and the Cost of Leaving (Cambridge UP, 2026) captures a group of intellectuals forced to leave Syria, primarily after the events of 2011. Having wound up in either Paris or Berlin these intellectuals are forced to reconsider their relation to their homeland, including the ongoing revolution, while navigating their new Western homes. As Al-Azmeh shows, this creates a diverse intellectual field which, while shaped by different intellectual and personal positions shares the need to navigate how they think of the revolution and the expectation of their hosts. In the course of the book, Al-Azmeh shows us a group of intellectuals who, while adopting a ‘double gaze’ of critiquing and at points valuing the West increasingly (though not wholly) adopt a position of ‘radical embeddedness’ towards the revolution, giving their role as leaders and instead seeing themselves as followers of the people. In the podcast we discuss the process that led these intellectuals to this position and the problems it posed for their relevance. We also discuss the contributions Al-Azmeh makes across the sociology of intellectuals, postcolonial theory and the idea of ‘trauma work’. There are also reflections on how one navigates one’s participants also being source of literature and what has changed following the fall of the Assad regime. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan) and co-editor of The Anthem Companion to Henri Lefebvre (2026, Anthem Press) along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member…","meta_description":"Zeina Al-Azmeh’s Syrian Intellectuals in Exile: The Dilemmas of Revolution and the Cost of Leaving (Cambridge UP, 2026) captures a group of intellectuals…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3758,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-sociology-671620/episodes/zeina-al-azmeh-syrian-intellectuals-in-exile-the-dilemmas-of-revolution-and-the-cost-of-leaving-cambridge-up-2026/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-sociology-671620/zeina-al-azmeh-syrian-intellectuals-in-exile-the-dilemmas-of-revolution-and-the-cost-of-leaving-cambridge-up-2026.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}